Infrastructure
growth slips to 2.6 pcNew Delhi, August 22Dismal performance by electricity,
crude petroleum, coal and cement sectors pulled down the growth in
infrastructure to just 2.6 per cent last month compared to a robust 10.2
per cent in July, 2002.

Jalan
hints at GDP revisionMumbai, August 22RBI Governor Bimal Jalan has hinted
at an upward revision of GDP and likely downward movement of inflation
in view of food prices coming down following a good monsoon.

Cola row
to hit US investmentPoor water quality, pollution
make India unfriendlyChennai, August 22The raging controversy over
pesticide residues in soft drinks, produced by US multinationals Pepsico
and Coca-Cola, may dissuade American corporates from investing in India,
according to a top US strategic thinker.

A model poses with a car at the Eighth Dalian International Automobile Exhibition opened at
the Xinghaiwan Convention and Exhibition Centre in Dalian City, north-east China's Liaoning province, on Thursday. — PTI

Move on
H1B visa to affect IT industryNew Delhi, August 22The US move to reduce the number of
H1B visas to 65,000 from 1.95 lakh from next month will affect the
Indian IT industry in the long run, Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom,
said today.

Ludhiana
to have largest malting facilityNew Delhi, August 22The country’s largest malting
facility is being established in Machhiwara in Ludhiana district in
collaboration with the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, Gresons Exims
and Schmidt-Seeger of Germany.

Allow
steel import, say unitsPatiala, August 22Secondary steel-making units
affiliated to the Patiala Chamber of Industries today appealed to the
Union Government to allow import of re-rollable material along with
scrap and lower the customs and anti-dumping duties on imported
billets coming from abroad.

Indian
economy to grow 5.5 pc, says IMFNew Delhi, August 22The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has said the Indian economy will grow 5.5 per cent this fiscal
following recovery in agriculture due to good monsoon, but warned of
large fiscal deficits and public debt increasing investment
uncertainty.

Refund
security in 60 days, says TraiNew Delhi, August 22The Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India (Trai) today asked the service providers to refund the
security deposit to the subscribers within 60 days of disconnection
after adjustment of dues if any.

New Delhi, August 22
Dismal performance by electricity, crude petroleum, coal and cement sectors pulled down the growth in infrastructure to just 2.6 per cent last month compared to a robust 10.2 per cent in July, 2002.

Infrastructure industries grew by 3.6 per cent during the first four months of this fiscal compared to 7.2 per cent in April-July 2002.

According to data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the aggregate growth of crude petroleum, refinery, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel slipped to 2.6 per cent in July from 4.7 per cent in June, 4 per cent in May and 3.9 per cent in April this fiscal.

The main reason for the low growth in infrastructure was the fall in electricity generation by 1.9 per cent in July compared to a growth of 6 per cent in the year-ago month.

Crude petroleum production also grew sluggishly by 0.4 per cent last month compared to 8.6 per cent in July, 2002, while coal output was up by only 2.7 per cent compared to 12.6 in the last year.

Growth in the Cement sector was only 3.4 per cent last month compared to 23.4 per cent in the year-ago period, while finished steel output was up by 7.7 per cent compared to 14.4 per cent in last year.

The only silver lining was the petroleum refinery sector which recorded higher 7.5 per cent growth last month compared to 5.4 per cent in July, 2002.

All six core sectors recorded lower growth during April-July this year while crude petroleum output fell by 1.5 per cent during the first four months compared to 7.6 per cent in April-July, 2002.

Petroleum refinery production was lower at 2.1 per cent in the four months compared to 6.1 per cent in the same period last year.

Electricity generation grew by 2.7 per cent till July compared to 4.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

The coal sector growth dipped to 3.4 per cent during the early months compared to 8.0 per cent in April-July 2002.

Cement production grew by 4.5 per cent till July this fiscal, compared to 11.5 per cent in the year ago period.

Growth in finished steel production also came down to 7.6 per cent during the first four months compared to 10.5 per cent in April-July, 2002.
— PTI

Mumbai, August 22
RBI Governor Bimal Jalan has hinted at an upward revision of GDP and likely downward movement of inflation in view of food prices coming down following a good monsoon.

"The monsoon has been better than expected; inflation has come down and the GDP can be revised upwards during the mid-term review of the credit policy in October to be carried by my successor Y.V. Reddy", he said at a luncheon meeting here today.

"The GDP, the monsoon and other factors will be taken into consideration during the mid-term review and changes, if any, accordingly decided," he added.

Jalan said inflation has been under control and "there is no turbulence and we expect the soft interest regime to continue."
— PTI

Cola row to hit US investment
Poor water quality, pollution make India unfriendly

Chennai, August 22
The raging controversy over pesticide residues in soft drinks, produced by US multinationals Pepsico and Coca-Cola, may dissuade American corporates from investing in India, according to a top US strategic thinker.

It was not a question of US corporations mixing pesticides in soft drinks but the quality of water available in India and the environmental pollution.

It might be possible to remove the pesticide in the water before using the same for the making of soft drinks. But the basic question was the poor quality of water and environmental pollution in India, said Prof d’Aveni, considered to be one of the top five global strategic thinkers.

It was the responsibility of the government to ensure safe water for the consumption of its citizens, he noted, claiming that the ongoing debate side-stepped the real issue.

Prof d’Aveni, who is here in connection with a meeting organised by Rai University, Delhi campus, said American policy makers were aware of the Chinese economic and military power and would like a more balanced economic power in India for their own interest.

If the current trend continued, the Chinese economic growth would become unstoppable and it could emerge as a strong contender for the superpower status of the USA. Hence, the US policy makers might try to avoid this.

Opining that India had the power and potential to emerge as a potential economic power, he said India should evolve its own entrepreneurship culture and emerge as a global player.
— UNI

New Delhi, August 22
The US move to reduce the number of H1B visas to 65,000 from 1.95 lakh from next month will affect the Indian IT industry in the long run, Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, said today.

"The IT industry is concerned. We are having some discussions, Indian Embassy in the US has also been involved," he told PTI on the sidelines of a conference on distance learning.

"It’s an issue that substantially affects the US industry. Therefore US associations and chambers also are taking it up because they have been the beneficiary," he added.

While Nasscom has not estimated the impact on the Indian industry or movement of professionals due to lower number of H1B visas, he said, "it depends on what numbers finally come out.

It’s not going to have any immediate impact as these visas are extendable for three years. There are already people with these visas. They will continue to be there".

However, the new visas will get restricted. There can be an impact over a period of time, he said.
— PTI

New Delhi, August 22
The country’s largest malting facility is being established in Machhiwara in Ludhiana district in collaboration with the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, Gresons Exims and Schmidt-Seeger of Germany.

“The state’s economy will see a major improvement because of encouraging response from the corporate sector towards our efforts for the diversification of agriculture in the state,” Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, said here today.

He expressed hope that the project would offer economically-viable options to the farmers and also be good for the ecological balance in the state. Diversifying to malting barley from wheat would not only enhance soil fertility but also save underground water due to less intensive irrigation, he said.

The Chief Minister said the state would provide assistance to make the project viable since it was an inherent part of the process of diversification of agriculture undertaken by the Punjab Government.

Mr Ume Brauninger of Schmidt-Seeger AG of Germany said the Rs 113 crore plant embodying state of the art tower malting technology was being promoted by Gresons Exims Limited to build world-class tower malting plant with computerised technology and sophisticated tower malting process.

Mr Himmat Singh of the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation said the project would be contracting with 5,000 farmers for 40,000 acres through the
corporation. The plant would be located on 34 acres.

The raw material requirement of 80,000 MT of malting barley would be sourced exclusively from Punjab as North India was most suitable in agro climatic conditions for growing malting barely.

“The farmers will get an advantage as the yield of malting barley is comparable to wheat, whereas, overhead expenses of irrigation and fertilisers are far less. The farmers can sow this crop later than wheat and since this crop does not need heavy soil, farmers can grow more than two crops,” he added.

Gresons Exims will not only provide quality seeds, pesticides and know-how, but also other facilities like subsidised cattlefeed and cess to credit from banks for contracting farmers. The company would also initiate other facilities like crop insurance, cattle insurance and kisan credit cards for contracting farmers.

“We will engage foreign agro experts to do extensive research not only to develop new seeds with good characteristics and high yield but also encourage better agricultural practices like identifying right soil and usage of natural manure, besides reduced but efficient use of seed, water, pesticides and fertilisers to get more yield with lower input costs,” said Mr Barinder Pal Singh of Gresons
Exims.

Patiala, August 22
Secondary steel-making units affiliated to the Patiala Chamber of Industries today appealed to the Union Government to allow import of re-rollable material along with scrap and lower the customs and anti-dumping duties on imported billets coming from abroad.

Industrialists addressing a press conference here, said both steps would go a long way in creating a level-playing field for smaller units and save such units from being exploited by the primary-steel making units.

Chamber President Dinesh Gupta alleged that primary manufacturers were manipulating the steel market which had resulted in a severe fluctuation of steel prices varying from Rs 12 a kg to Rs 25 a kg over the last few months.

Mr Gupta alleged that the primary manufacturers of steel, who had earlier patronised the secondary steel manufacturers by providing them with ingots, blooms and billets, were now adopting a strategy to eliminate the secondary units. As part of this strategy the primary manufacturers had become successful in getting a ban imposed on imported rolling material along with melting scrap. Melting scrap had always served as a cheap source of alternative rolling material for these secondary units.

The industrialist said besides this, the primary manufacturers had also gradually stopped supplying any sort of semi-finished product such as blooms and ingots, besides other heavy material, to the re-rolling sector forcing it to seek raw material from induction furnaces only. The primary suppliers were also raising sponge iron prices arbitrarily by linking them to their finished goods rate so as to raise the cost of production of steel furnaces.

The chamber President said an artificial surge in steel prices had been created in the recent past by the primary steel manufacturers even though their cost of production had not increased as their units were based on iron ore. While this strategy had paid big dividends to the big players, it had proved suicidal to the small units as they were being forced to procure their raw material only from induction furnaces making their goods uncompetitive.

New Delhi, August 22
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the Indian economy will grow 5.5 per cent this fiscal following recovery in agriculture due to good monsoon, but warned of large fiscal deficits and public debt increasing investment uncertainty.

“The projection (of 5.5 per cent growth) for 2003-04 incorporates a recovery in agriculture, but there is potential for an even stronger rebound in this sector,” the Washington-based lender said in its annual review of Indian economy yesterday.

However, the IMF expressed concern at the growth rate which “was still off mid-1990 levels of 6.5 per cent which had implications for reducing poverty”.

On the fiscal deficit, which was 5.9 per cent last fiscal, exceeding the target of 5.3 per cent, the IMF said: “India’s large deficits and public debt are exacting an economic cost in terms of foregone growth. The large fiscal imbalances leave little room for manoeuvre in the face of shocks and have tended to result in ad hoc policy changes, which increase investment uncertainty.”

The IMF noted the recent resilience of the Indian economy and said despite a weak global environment and a severe drought during 2002-03, the economy grew at a rate that compares favourably with that of most other countries.

“Inflation is expected to be around 4.5 per cent by end-2003-04,” it said and viewed the maintenance of easy monetary conditions as appropriate.

Noting the “unprecedented accumulation of reserves, which reached $ 83 billion in mid-July and an appreciation of the rupee vis-a-vis the dollar by around 4 per cent in the year to mid-July 2003’’, IMF forecast that: “the external current account is projected to remain in surplus.”

The lender further called upon India to use the current favourable external and interest rate environment to build political consensus to accelerate fiscal and structural adjustments.

“Owing to the current fiscal situation and need to contain systemic risk, they encouraged the authorities to move away from government-orchestrated rescue packages of these institutions, with little conditionality,” it said.

The IMF praised the government for financial sector reforms but said it needed to broaden the scope of the market for interest rate derivatives and tighten the regulatory treatment of state-government guaranteed loans.

It also called for early action on lifting restrictions on agricultural marketing and trade and reforming the public distribution system and minimum support prices.

Pointing out that state finances have improved only moderately, the IMF suggested that much more needs to be done in the areas of reforming the tax system, divesting public enterprises and reducing subsidies and losses in the power sector.

In this context, the IMF regretted “the delay in the introduction of VAT.”
— UNI

ROUND-UP

Refund security in 60 days, says Trai

New Delhi, August 22
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today asked the service providers to refund the security deposit to the subscribers within 60 days of disconnection after adjustment of dues if any.

Trai said it had also decided that the service providers would pay an interest of 10 per cent per annum for the delayed period beyond 60 days. The Telecom Regulator’s decision came after receiving a number of complaints from subscribers that service providers were taking inordinately long time for the refund of security deposit after disconnection of the telephone.
— UNI

Overseas Bank issue on Sept 5

NEW DELHI:
Indian Overseas Bank will hit the capital market on September 5 with its Rs 240 crore public offer priced at Rs 24 per share, its chairman S.C. Gupta said here today.

Government holding in the Chennai-based bank will come down to 61 per cent after its second IPO, from the present level of 75 per cent, while the bank’s capital base will go up to Rs 544 crore from the present Rs 444 crore, Gupta said.

The Indian Overseas Bank board, which met here last night, finalised the price of the issue at Rs 10 face value with a premium of Rs 14 per share based on the market trend. Indian Overseas Bank scrip is now hovering at around Rs 27 on the BSE.
— PTI

India, China to double trade

NEW DELHI: India and China are aiming to double their bilateral trade to about $ 10 billion by 2005.“We are conscious of our growth and are targeting $ 10 billion trade by 2005,” Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley said at a seminar on India-China trade relations, organised by the CNBC here.

He said last fiscal, exports to China grew by 106 per cent as against 86 per cent of Chinese exports to
India. Total bilateral trade for the 11 months (April-February), 2002-03 was $ 4.2 billion as against $ 2.6 billion during the corresponding period in 2001-02.
— PTI

Harminder Singh is Markfed chief

CHANDIGARH:
Mr Harminder Singh Jassi, a former Punjab minister and senior Congress leader from Bathinda, today took over as Chairman of Markfed.

Mr Jassi was formally installed in his office by the Punjab Minister for Finance and Cooperation, Mr Lal Singh, at a ceremony held at the Markfed headquarters here, which was attended among others by Dr B. C. Gupta, Principal Secretary, Cooperation and Mr S.S. Channi, Managing Director, Markfed.
— TNS

IMF to close office in Thailand

BANGKOK:
The IMF said today it would close its office here, a month after Thailand paid off its debt to the institution which provided a rescue package during the 1997-1998 economic crisis.

“This decision reflects a variety of factors, including the improved economic climate and the evolving nature of the IMF’s relationship with Thailand,” it said in a statement, adding that it would close in mid-September.
— AFP

Pak millers eye Punjab wheat

CHANDIGARH:
Flour millers of Pakistan have expressed desire to import two lakh tonnes of wheat from Punjab. This was disclosed here today by the Minister for Finance and Cooperation, Mr Lal Singh.

Mr Lal Singh said the Flour Millers Association of Pakistan had sent in a written request to this effect to Markfed.

“As a matter of fact, Pakistanis have indicated that their total requirement for wheat is of the order of 20 lakh tonnes. Markfed can easily meet this requirement because its wheat stocks are in excess of 31 lakh tonnes”, the minister said.
— TNS

BSNL schemeNew Delhi, August 22
BSNL today announced promotional scheme on basic telephone for defence and paramilitary forces which will be valid till September 3, 2003, in areas where telephone is on demand. As per the first scheme, any defence or paramilitary personnel booking a new basic telephone connection during the period will be given connection without registration fee or installation charges with 50 hours of free Internet valid for 60 days.
— PTI

Punjab loansChandigarh, August 22
The Punjab Government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has floated Punjab state development loan of Rs 401.60 crore, according to a government spokesman here today. This 12 year tenure loan will bear interest at 6.2 per cent per annum. The interest will be paid half-yearly on February 25 and August 25, each year.
— TNS

Escotel launchChandigarh, August 22
Escotel and HDFC Bank have announced the launch of the HDFC Bank Escotel cobranded international debit card. The debit card offers benefits from both Escotel and HDFC Bank.
— TNS

Vardan launchedChandigarh, August 22
Dalmia Consumer Care today announced the launch of Vardan, claimed to be world’s first healthier alternative to tobacco. The product has been developed from plants to give an alternative to people who are willing to quit tobacco according to Mr Sudershan Banerjee, M D of the firm.
— TNS

LIC FinanceChandigarh, August 22
LIC Housing Finance has revised interest rates for individual housing loans. The rate of interest (floating) from 1 to 6 years will be 8.25 per cent, for 7 to 12 years, it will be 8.5 per cent and for 13 to 20 years, it will be 9 per cent.
— TNS

ISO for HSIDCChandigarh, August 22
The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) has achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification for its financial and related services being provided to industries in the state.
— UNI